Witness in Le-Nature case gets 5 years in prison

PITTSBURGH 
An accounting director-turned-government witness for the defunct western Pennsylvania soft-drink maker Le-Nature's will serve five years in prison and five years of probation in a large business-fraud investigation.

Tammy Jo Andreycak (An-DRAY-sek) was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison and five years of federal probation.

Andreycak was cooperating with investigators even before pleading guilty in April 2008 to fudging accounting records at the behest of former chief executive and company founder Gregory Podlucky.

Podlucky is serving 20 years in prison for the scheme, which cost lenders and vendors about $684 million. Prosecutors say he obtained $800 million in financing by fraudulently overstating the company's revenues.

Also to be sentenced later Tuesday is 67-year-old Robert Lynn, former president of the bankrupt company. He was convicted this year despite claiming he, too, was fooled by Podlucky and not a part of the scheme.